Politics

Kerry, Russia to Syria: Turn Over Chemical Weapons

(NEWSER) – Russia made the surprise move today of prodding ally Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, just hours after John Kerry suggested that Bashar al-Assad and Co. could avoid a military strike if they did exactly that within a week. "If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in that country would allow avoiding strikes, we will immediately start working with Damascus," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We are calling on the Syrian leadership to not only agree on placing chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also on its subsequent destruction and fully joining the treaty on prohibition of chemical weapons."